Europeans Insulted & Angry: Say Obama Snubbed French President & German Chancellor during Normandy D-Day Weekend
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on June 7, 2009
Awkward moment: Obama and Sarkozy stretching to shake hands, following Obama's speech at D-Day 65th anniversary event, Normandy, France | Photo credit: Ben Bloker, Stars and Stripes
Pres. Barack Obama is causing quite the controversy in Europe this weekend while attending the D-Day 65th anniversary festivities in Normandy. Did he snub the French president? Did he snub the German chancellor? Some of the European newspapers and blogosphere are slamming him, quite upset about these perceived disses.
Did Obama actually snub either country? His actions do seem to lack in conventional presidential courtesy (and plain, decent, old-fashioned good manners); after all, he was the invited guest of the French president for the Normandy event. Obama turning down his host’s invitation to attend dinner seems, IMHO, extraordinarily rude and self-absorbed. But we all know that France’s president Nicolas Sarkozy can work himself into a French snit at the drop of a beret.
The snub may have been an intended, calculated embarrassment for Sarkozy, who has both embraced and dissed Obama publicly.
There’s speculation that the dinner snub was a deliberate Obama power slam. Sarkozy may be paying the price for criticism he launched against Obama last month during the G-20 gathering.
So, to get back at him, Obama not only smugly insulted Sarkozy, but an entire country—all its people—as well. Take THAT, you French peasants!
If Sarkozy had visited America per Obama’s invitation and then capriciously turned down a dinner invite from the Obamas, you know the American mainstream media would have gone on the rampage about “French rudness.”
One thing’s for sure: Despite the perceived or real snubs, European leaders are still desperate to have photo op sessions with Obama… much like wanting to be seen hanging out with the “cool kid” in high school. Pathetic. World leaders going all ga-ga over POTUS like bubble-headed rock star groupies… and creating childish, shallow distraction from the true intent of the Normandy festivities: honoring the memory and supreme sacrifices made by thousands of young WWII soldiers who liberated France 65 years ago with their lives.
Marine photographing one of the thousands of graves of fallen WWII American soldiers, Normandy American Cemetary in France | Photo credit: Ben Bloker, Stars and Stripes
Are the citizens of France and Germany being overly sensitive, or is Obama more callously self-absorbed with his alpha-dog desire to “stick it to Sarkozy” and have fun on his taxpayer-funded “vacation” than he cares about the image he projects to the world? You decide.
From NDTV:
Obama turns down Sarkozy’s dinner invite
The Obamas, who are in Paris for the D-Day anniversary, have reportedly turned down a dinner invitation from the Sarkozys.
President Obama’s reluctance to spend too much time with Sarkozy has become a huge embarrassment for the French president.
Both the French media and the Opposition have mocked Sarkozy over Obama’s coolness towards him, which is only partly due to his handling of the Normandy commemoration.
Obama’s irritation with his French counterpart reportedly began when Sarkozy tried made some disparaging remarks about him at the G20 summit in London in April.
Sarkozy told colleagues that he found Obama inexperienced and unbriefed, especially on climate change. The US president hit back last month, asking a visiting French minister to tell Sarkozy that he would do his homework, and in two months know all about climate change.
From Breitbart.com:
Obama hits back at Euro snub rumors
President Barack Obama is hitting back at “very wild” rumors that key US allies like France and Germany feel they are getting short shrift from the breakneck pace of his global travel.
Twice in as many days, Obama had to address whispers in the European press that all was not rosy in his relationships with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
On Saturday, a reporter asked the president whether Europe was low on his priority list, following newspaper reports he turned down a private dinner with the French president after 65th anniversary D-Day commemorations.
“I have a very tough schedule and I would love nothing more than to have a leisurely week in Paris, stroll down the Seine, take my wife out to a nice meal, have a picnic in Luxembourg Gardens,” Obama said, pointing out that he was caught up in dealing with the pressing financial crisis at home.
“Those days are over for the moment,” Obama said, but promised to spend more time in France when he is an ex-president.
“I think it’s very important to understand that good friends don’t worry about the symbols and the conventions and the protocols,” Obama said.
“I think you guys are reading too much into my schedule.”
Obama was certainly enjoying himself on Saturday night in Paris after returning from Normandy, taking his two young daughters on a tour of Notre Dame cathedral and dining in an up-scale restaurant near the Eiffel Tour.
On Friday, in Germany, at a press conference sandwiched between talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a visit to the former concentration camp at Buchenwald and a trip to see wounded soldiers at a military hospital in Germany, Obama betrayed some of his frustration at the press.
‘I think your characterisation of wild speculations is accurate,” Obama told a reporter who asked about reports that he was not getting on too well with Merkel.
A snippet from Hot Air:
The Sarkozys invited the Obamas over for dinner, but the latter declined. The reason?
Mr Obama’s irritation with his French counterpart began when Mr Sarkozy tried to grab the limelight at the G20 summit in London in April and talked condescendingly of the US President in private. Mr Sarkozy told colleagues that he found Mr Obama to be inexperienced and unbriefed, especially on climate change. Mr Obama hit back last month, telling a visiting French minister: “Please tell Nicolas that I shall do my homework, and in two months I’ll know all about climate change.”
That’s Obama in a nutshell for you. He is God, and infidel dogs who deny it have to be punished and, if possible, publicly humiliated.
He’s a different president than most, isn’t he? He treats friends like enemies, and enemies like friends. In other words, he’s exactly the kind of leader liberal Europeans and Americans have prayed for for years. Strictly secularly, of course.
Seemingly, Obama has no trouble insulting an entire country. When you reject such an invitation, you not only say ‘no’ to to the other president, but to his people as well. Doesn’t Obama understand that, or doesn’t he care, because he has little to no affection for Europe?
I stumbled on this weird little news blurb from Australia (posted with tomorrow’s date, naturally):
Sydney Morning Herald
President Obama’s French food tested by ‘taster’
June 8, 2009A US “taster” tested the food being dished up to President Barack Obama at a dinner in a French restaurant, a waiter said on Sunday.
“They have someone who tastes the dishes,” said waiter Gabriel de Carvalho from the “La Fontaine de Mars” restaurant where Obama and his family turned up for dinner on Saturday night.
“It wasn’t very pleasant for the cooks at first, but the person was very nice and was relaxed, so it all went well,” he said on the Itele news channel.
Asked by AFP to comment, the restaurant confirmed the report.
What in the heck was being tasted? Arugula? Snails? Dijon mustard? Poison? I can only speculate why POTUS feels he needs a White House, taxpayer-paid food taster while dining at the acclaimed La Fontaine de Mars in France. Where was the food taster at Ray’s Hell Burger a few weeks ago? With the press documenting the Obamas’ very public dinner at Fontaine de Mars, I’m sure the knife Sarkozy has lodged in his back wiggled a bit more.
Terrific rundown at Fausta’s Blog on all the French security that Sarkozy’s taxpayers’ paid for, the public closing of the Louvre for the family to tour the museum uninterrupted, the traffic jams, the food taster, and several videos.
Strangest gaffe that occurred during the Normandy tribute: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown fluffed a line in his speech, referring to Omaha Beach as “Obama Beach.”
Good grief.
Additional reading:
Reuters: Really, I do like you, Obama tells French and Germans
Irish Times: Veterans and leaders mark D-Day
Irish Times: D-Day Commemorations at Normandy Slideshow
Agence France-Presse: Obama arrives in France for D-Day anniversary
Hot Air, The Greenroom: Obama Insults France’s Sarkozy
Jeffrey Jena, Big Hollywood: Are We Witnessing a Greek Tragedy?
Charles Bremner, TimesOnline: Sarkozy upsets British with Obama D-Day visit
PoliGazette: Obama insults France, Refuses to Dine with Sarkozy
Public Secrets: Don’t blame Obama for Sarkozy’s petty jealousy
Hot Air: Quotes of the Day and White House food tasters? and Obamateurism of the Day
Power Line: Paul Rahe: Obama’s gestures, part 2
Greg Gutfeld: Big Hollywood: Daily Gut: Great Abs, But No Balls
The Powers That Be: Obama Has a Food Taster?
Debbie Schlussel: Obama Trip Irony: Yesterday v. Today
Where’s the Outrage?: Obama at Normandy
Michelle Malkin: D-Day Weekend Meditation
Monsters & Critics: President Obama’s Normandy trip, ‘Obama beach,’ and Sarkozy snub?
Sydney Morning Herald: Obama not up to standard: Sarkozy
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